Experts from the Department of Cinema & Media Arts available for commentary on TIFF 50
Scholars and filmmakers offer insight on festival programming, Canada’s screen industry, TIFF: The Market, and the next wave of talent
As the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) celebrates a milestone year, experts from York’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design are available to provide commentary on festival programming, industry trends, and the role of TIFF in creating pathways for emerging talent.
Award-winning director, writer, researcher, editor: Professor Tereza Barta has worked on over 25 documentaries, a feature film, and numerous television productions. Her films have screened at ZINEBI, DOK Leipzig​​, Oberhausen, Chicago and Montreal film festivals, among others. Formerly with the Romanian National Film Board in Bucharest, the Austrian Film Board and CBC/Radio Canada, she is a Gemini award winner and contributor to Film Magazine.
Barta is available to comment on:
- International documentary filmmaking and TIFF Docs programming
- Women behind the camera in the global and Canadian context
- Eastern European cinema and its representation at TIFF
- The art of narrative filmmaking and documentary storytelling
Award-winning director, screenwriter, producer, and scholar: Professor Moussa Djigo is the writer-director and producer of Obamas and Rosalie, two fiction features that have won over 20 international awards and screened at more than 60 venues globally. He is the author of Spike Lee: Aesthetics of Subversion in Do the Right Thing and is currently writing a book on Indigenous cinema. His research focuses on Canadian Indigenous cinema, African American cinema, city symphony films, and space in cinema. He is writer, director and producer of the upcoming feature Tomorrow at Dawn, due in February.
Djigo is available to comment on:
- Indigenous filmmaking and its representation at TIFF
- Political and racial narratives in North American cinema
- The role of emerging filmmakers and alternative production models at TIFF 50
Award-winning screenwriter, director, producer: Professor Alyson Richards is recognized for her bold, inclusive storytelling across film and television. She was the screenwriter for the queer slasher The Retreat, a Globe and Mail Critics’ Pick, and won a Directors Guild of Canada award for the short documentary I Was Here, which she directed. As a producer, her projects premiered at TIFF, Sundance, Sitges Film Festival, AFI FEST, and Locarno. Richards is participating in The Hollywood Reporter’s inaugural Access Canada Summit at TIFF 50 as part of the Directors Guild of Canada delegation. She currently has two series in development.
Richards is available to comment on:
- TIFF’s role in developing, shaping and financing emerging talent
- The realities of funding, developing and launching new projects today
- The upcoming TIFF: The Market and its potential for Canadian creators
- How underrepresented voices are reshaping genre film and TIFF’s role in spotlighting inclusive and genre-defying Canadian content
- 2SLGBTQIA+ narratives in horror and genre cinema
Media industry expert and author: Director, MBA in Arts, Media and Entertainment, Professor Ken Rogers teaches at the Schulich School of Business and in the Cinema & Media Arts department. He serves on the City of Toronto’s film, television and digital media advisory board and is a media policy advisor. He is the author of The Attention Complex and has published on the social and cultural impact of art, media art, and emerging media technology. His research focuses on cultural policy, media policy, and media industry studies.
He is available to comment on:
- How TIFF supports the Canadian film and television industry
- The launch of TIFF: The Market in 2026 and its impact on the Canadian and international film industry
- The role of government funding and cultural policy in Canadian media
- How academic and industry collaborations shape the future of screen industries
Experimental film scholar, curator, critic and author: Professor Michael Zryd is a scholar of experimental cinema, and founding co-chair of the Society for Cinema & Media Studies Experimental Film and Media Scholarly Interest Group (ExFM). He is the author of Moments of Perception: Experimental Film in Canada as well as two books on Hollis Frampton, an icon of the American avant-garde.
Zryd is available to comment on:
- Avant-garde and experimental film at TIFF 50
- How documentaries shape our worldviews, the responsibilities of filmmakers, and how powers and politics influence narrative
- U.S. populism in film and media
- American genre cinema, including sci-fi, musicals, rom-coms, and superhero films
The School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) at York University is a dynamic hub for creative experimentation and expression. With a commitment to cultivating artistic excellence, new ideas and entrepreneurial skills, AMPD students learn by doing with industry-leading professionals in career-focused activities. The Department of Cinema & Media Arts at AMPD offers exceptional hands-on and theoretical training across the evolving spectrum of cinema and media with access to top-tier facilities, including the York Motion Media Studio at Cinespace Studios Toronto. From idea to screenplay, camera to screen, screen to critical inquiry, AMPD students learn to think and create in the language of the moving image across all media, guided by faculty who are experts in their field.
